SCIENCE NEVER SLEEPS
Anyone who thought that Tim Day, the now-departed guitarist from eeebleee, was the weakest link in that band should take a listen to this new project from the man. Teaming up with new cohort Emma Chapman, he’s taken the old ambient but fidgety pop template off on another direction to his now rather noisier ex-bandmates. Tracks here, like ‘Hymn To Nothing’, mix up acoustic guitars and wobbly electronics pretty much as you’d expect, but with added violin, which scrapes uneasily along the edge of each piece, and some seriously sombre beats and the whole thing attains a hazy, somnambulant atmosphere that only in its final seconds takes off in a spaceward direction like a tinpot rocket built by the Clanger family. ‘Still Kicking’ retains the soporific atmosphere, sounding only half-alive despite its title, mumbled vocals pottering about in the mix while seagulls hover eerily in the distance. Only on ‘Underwater Ghost Train’ do they let it fall apart a bit - trying for the spectral feel that the title conveys, it’s all a bit like something Autechre might have left behind. ‘Space Dust’, though returns to old eeebleee terrain - including the exact same sci-fi movie samples they used to use, plus some twanging country guitar and grumbling synthesizers. And so, thankfully, Tim’s talent doesn’t disappear and go to waste, and he and Emma earn themselves two free days in the studio, just to make sure it stays that way.